PDA

View Full Version : Gabe Newell and J.J. Abrams discuss potential film


mauve
02-06-2013, 02:27 PM
So Gabe Newell and J.J. Abrams walk into a room in Las Vegas. Gabe says to J.J., "So how about that Cloverfield, huh? Sure was fun watching some idiot do stupid shit and not being able to do anything about it." J. J. turns to Gabe and says, "Well at least THAT idiot could TALK, and the other characters never needed to worry about him hitting things with a crowbar instead of paying attention to their important dialogue."

There's a moment of silence, and Gabe finally says, "Sooo... Half Life movie, then?" J.J. nods. "...Yeah, okay."

THANK YOU! I'm here all week! Tip your waitresses!

Link. (http://www.penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/valves-gabe-newell-and-star-wars-director-j.j.-abrams-to-work-towards-porta)

So yeah. Gabe Newell and J.J. Abrams spoke together at the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas on Feb 6 of this year, and Newell runs a clip from Cloverfield, showing characters running away from explosions and chaos. “I’m looking at that as a gamer saying put the camera down and let me fucking run. But you won’t let me do that,” he said. J.J. Abrams turned the tables by saying characters in games often drive the scene in the wrong direction. They show a video from Half-Life 2 of the player ignoring the dialog being spoken and instead running around and playing with the environment. It’s a good point: In real life no one would be picking books up and throwing them at the characters. , stated on record that they were interested in working together on either a Half Life or Portal movie, or some sort of video game.

“We’re recapitulating a series of conversations that have been going on. This is what happens when game and movie people get together. We reached the point where we decided that we had to do more than talk,” Newell stated.

“There’s an idea we had for a game that we’d like to work with Valve on,” Abrams continued.

“We’re super-excited about that, and we’re also excited about working with you guys on a movie. So we’re going to figure out if we can make a Portal movie or Half-Life movie together. But it’s really time for us, and our industries, to stop talking about potentials and start trying to execute them,” Newell finished. It may not have been the most in-depth talk from the two men, but it showed how much they both loved the act of telling stories, even as they made gentle fun of the limitations of their respective art forms. The idea of them getting together to try to “fix” those issues is truly exciting.

Obviously, that's not to say that this is SO TOTALLY HAPPENING, but it's an interesting development. I WONDERED why Portal 2 had that little interactive Super 8 trailer in it. (Personally, Valve's trailer intrigued me more than the film's real trailer did.)

Now, in terms of whether this is going to WORK, that's anyone's guess. I mean, Valve's never let us down in terms of story before, but film is a different medium which utilizes different storytelling strategies. A lot of the awesome psychological stuff Valve likes to use in their games might not translate well to film. Plus, will Chell and/or Gordon have a voice in a movie adaptation???? And on the flip side of that coin, would a J.J. Abrams game fall into the same category as the myriad of Terrible Movie Games that haunt the world of digital entertainment, or would it be something more Half-Life-ish that Abrams helped write?

In other news, HOLY DANG, VALVE. You suddenly have so many great big ideas, from your own console to a potential film in the works. It's like they just now realized that they were awesome and that people would probably buy a pack of gum labeled APERTURE SCIENCE DENTAL HYGIENE AID if they put their logo on it. But will they manage to follow through with all these grand ideas, or will they fall into the same void as Half Life 3?

Thoughts? Comments? I know there have been rumors of a Half Life movie for a while, but I thought this was an interesting article.

Azisien
02-06-2013, 02:31 PM
Abrams cinematography + Valve writing = win.

I do worry that Valve is going in too many directions. Steam is an enormous success, but it also has more competent rivals. Although Steam is good, it could be better. The mobile app is also lacking still. Yet they are also doing a console, and working on games, and now making movies. I know the Valve employee hierarchy has the flexibility for this kind of stuff, but no hierarchy has unlimited reach.

Tev
02-06-2013, 03:50 PM
So yeah. Gabe Newell and J.J. Abrams spoke together at the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas on Feb 6 of this year, and , stated on record that they were interested in working together on either a Half Life or Portal movie, or some sort of video game.Where do I throw my money?

Sifright
02-06-2013, 04:05 PM
Valve is privately owned and has made billions.

No competitor to steam is in any way nearly a threat to them despite the titanic efforts EA and others are putting into it.

Also the Steam box is unlikely to be anything more than off the shelf components so I can't see it costing much in terms of hardware design and RnD.

If they are going for a linux based distro as what little evidence there is points to the software side of things will be more a problem unless they are planning to utilise something like wine as a way around the inherent linux driver problems.

Any way you crack it though Valve really do have the resources to spread themselves out all over the place like this and not threaten themselves too much.

Unlike a publicly owned company gabe can afford to be pretty cavalier.

Edit: that said Half life film would be Aweeeeeeeeesome

Although not a huge fan of JJ.....

rpgdemon
02-06-2013, 04:07 PM
Plot twist: That WAS GlaDOS in Pacific Rim.

BB
02-06-2013, 04:23 PM
Half-Life specifically has a lot of ground to cover without the worry of having to give Gordon a voice- a film covering the Seven Hour War would be pretty interesting (if bleak), and then there's the ~20 years intervening time before Gordon is reintroduced to the world.

Of course, there would have to be a lot of frames with G-Man hiding somewhere in them, to please the old crowd.

mauve
02-06-2013, 05:41 PM
there would have to be a lot of frames with G-Man hiding somewhere in them YES THIS IS THE BEST THING. I WOULD LOVE THAT MOVIE FOREVER AND ALWAYS.

Sifright
02-06-2013, 05:43 PM
Opening scene of half life film

Rise and shine Mister Freeeman. Rise and... shine

Your time..... has come again

mauve
02-06-2013, 05:52 PM
Alternately, in a Portal movie:

Hello, and welcome to the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center.

rpgdemon
02-06-2013, 06:04 PM
I think a Portal movie would have to be set in old-Aperture Science labs, so it would have characters and development. Could show GlaDOS being made from Caroline, and turning into what we know.

Revising Ocelot
02-06-2013, 06:09 PM
YES THIS IS THE BEST THING. I WOULD LOVE THAT MOVIE FOREVER AND ALWAYS.

He shall be having coffee in the background with Hitchcock.

Jagos
02-11-2013, 02:40 PM
I think a Portal movie would have to be set in old-Aperture Science labs, so it would have characters and development. Could show GlaDOS being made from Caroline, and turning into what we know.

I would not want to see that... Reason being, Portal 2 told that story and it would really damage it if the movie intervened in what I wrote in my head.

UndrDog
03-09-2013, 04:13 AM
Can't wait to watch people talk to Gordon Freeman for 90+ minutes!

Bells
03-09-2013, 11:43 AM
a half life movie would never truly work as something we all want to see... however, a PORTAL movie works. If only due to the fact that Portal is already constructed as a short narrative.

But to make movie, you need to sell tickets. And to sell tickets, you need action...

But if the action is bad, then you the DOOM the movie all over again, and NOBODY wants that

Aerozord
03-10-2013, 02:05 AM
Valve's strength has been in interactive storytelling, taking away that interactive part, I question how well it would play out.

bh1-4oZVxoo